Day 9: Are you really hungry?

I’m guilty of describing my pangs of hunger as starvation. I’m an emotional eater, and ashamed to admit I waste food and take it for granted.

Jews in the Łódź Ghetto didn’t have that luxury. They were more likely to die of starvation than any other ghetto because it was “closed.” Since it was located IN the Reich government all activity was heavily monitored, Jews could not leave for work, or smuggle food in from the outside. The Nazis gave them a diet based on a 1,000 calorie intake. The rations of food items came every couple of weeks and was always rotten, frozen, and not edible. But they ate it anyway. Diary entries of teenagers in the Łódź Ghetto describe chilling accounts of the brutal starvation they endured, and how a family of 5 was expected to have one loaf of bread last a whole week. 7 DAYS. In my house it barely lasts for one.

As a teenager I used NYC public transportation to get to school and work, and hated it. After today, I really, really despise trains.

After visiting the perimeter of the Łódź Ghetto and its cemetery, we went to the Radegast Station where Jews were transported to Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau for extermination.

I walked into the train where 100 people were crammed into with no air, space, light, food or toilet facility. Many died en route before they even made it to the death camps.

Today was disheartening because I realized how much I take for granted.

God, please help me to be grateful for all the many blessings I have been given. And, please give me strength for Auschwitz.

Description of the Łódź Ghetto.

Cemetery in the Łódź Ghetto where bodies were prepared before WWII.

Entrance to the Łódź Cemetery.

Mass graves spread all over.

Do you see the ditches? When the Nazis realized the Soviets were coming, they ordered 850 Jews to dig ditches. They planned to shoot them and dump the bodies in. But they left before the Red Army came and 850 Jews survived.

Radegast Station

Description of Radegast Station

Outside Radegast Station

Memorial to where the Jews were transported.

These crazy Nazis took meticulous lists recording all the people they transported to extermination camps.

Cattle car where 100 Jews were packed into.

The Radegast Station transformed into a Memorial

THOUSANDS of lists of names.

Palace of Puznansky

Manufactura Factory

Lunch with these lovely ladies